Ooooh! Big Bathtub!

At the Lincoln Park Zoo, there is a little-traveled pond with a man made waterfall. Occasionally, there are tours of this site (if you get the extended tour of the zoo), and that includes a tour of the waterfall. The guide takes everyone, including young children, up the rocks and over to the start of the waterfall.

I should preface this with a small anecdote about swimming. Though he was not 18 months before he joined the course, our little Gremlin has been participating in swimming classes for the last several weeks. (FYI - it's not a good idea to hold a child partially in the water, and encourage them to flap their arms. Those who know how to splash will end up soaking the instructor, and knocking his glasses off - which will result in a 10 minute delay of class while he searches for them, but also tries not to step on them while searching.) However, after the initial splashing phase, our little darling took to water like horns to a de.... uh, well, he likes it.

So when he was at the top of the waterfall, seeing the other children dangling their feet in the water, looking out over something that looked like a giant bathtub (complete with faucet), the inevitable occurred.

It was at this time that the Mother of the Gremlin stepped up. Having been honing her reflexes for approximately 18 months now, she immediately reacted to the situation. Her keen eye watched as our son leaped into the pond, and continued to eye him as he paddled - completely submerged - towards the faucet. Just as she was feeling compelled to possibly take action, he popped his head back up and took a deep breath as he continued towards the giant faucet.

Well, at least the swimming classes were a good investment... even if the instructor won't get anywhere near him anymore.

*Update* the pool instructor retired at the end of that winter session